31 Oct 2014

Midwest band King Me have recently released their debut 6 track EP Checkered Past on the record label Foxclaw Records. This record has a solid metallic edge to it and takes all kinds of influences from bands such as Cro-Mags, No Warning and a hell of a lot more. Every track on this release has a gritty, fast and heavy sound with old school sounding grooves and chugging guitar riffs with raw screaming vocals to go alongside this. King Me are a breath of fresh air in the Midwest hardcore scene and basically ‘cut the crap’ if so to speak. There is a lot of influence from other bands in their songs and their style is not clear cut which I enjoy but nonetheless keep the rawness flowing with raspy vocals, gritty lyrics and harsh sounding instrumentals.

The first track Restless Night starts with a flurry of fast, melodic instrumentals with strong lead guitar chords which adds a bit of variation for an introduction track. Closed Casket follows this and brings back the more traditional hardcore sound and style with some heavy guitar riffs and cutting bass parts. The vocals from Richie are rasp and as angry as they come. The themes present in all tracks are very bleak and include growing up, tragedies of death, regrets, the nonstop struggle of life and adulthood. The amount of passion, aggression and soul that comes out of these songs is just incredible. No Gods, No Handouts sounds very Blood for Blood style and the beauty of this EP is that every song has a different feel to it.

Alive in Death is another fantastic track and contains ferocious strumming and smashing drums and is a short but sweet 14 seconds long and soon drops into the next track Bloodsucker which seems a bit heavier. The vocals are shouted in a deeper tone on this track and it sounds a lot more aggressive than the other tracks. There is an exceptional catchy bassline towards the end that soon transitions back into a metallic hardcore sound. This EP is definitely worth investing in and it’s cool that each song has a different influence in it, this record contains a lot of sub-genres and various elements of hardcore. So if you like hardcore, metal or anything heavy then this is for you. Make sure you give it a listen!